1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the field of customer self service systems for resource search and selection, and more specifically, to a novel graphical user interface for such a system.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
Currently there exist many systems designed to perform search and retrieval functions. These systems may be classified variously as knowledge management systems, information portals, search engines, data miners, etc. Providing effective customer self service systems for resource search and selection presents several significant challenges. The first challenge for current systems with query capability is that serving queries intelligently requires a large amount of user supplied contextual information, while at the same time the user has limited time, patience, ability and interest to provide it. The second challenge is that searching without sufficient context results in a very inefficient search (both user time and system resource intensive) with frequently disappointing results (overwhelming amount of information, high percentage of irrelevant information). The third challenge is that much of a user""s actual use and satisfaction with search results differ from that defined at the start of the search: either because the users behave contrary to their own specifications, or because there are other contextual issues at play that have not been defined into the search.
Graphical user interfaces (GUIs) provide ways for users of computers and other devices to effectively communicate with the computer. In GUIs, available applications and data sets are often represented by icons consisting of small graphical representations which can be selected by a user and moved on the screen. The selection of icons often takes the place of typing in a command using a keyboard in order to initiate a program. In general, icons are tiny on-screen symbols that simplify functions like the access to a program, command, or data file. Icons are usually activated or selected by moving a mouse-controlled cursor onto the icon and pressing the mouse button.
GUIs for customer self service systems for resource search and selection have the potential to enable users to efficiently enter large amounts of contextual information. The prior art has addressed a 1:1 correspondence between a limited range of contextual variables and icons. A major limitation of these approaches is that they fail to address the full range of relevant user contextual variables as part of the query and require extensive time and patience on the part of the user to make even limited contextual selections. Another limitation of these approaches is that they fail to provide for a graphical method of fine tuning the context variables relevant to the user""s search, focusing only on the fine tuning of the content variables.
As will be hereinafter explained in greater detail, some representative prior art search and retrieval systems implementing novel user interfaces include U.S. Pat. No. 5,303,361 entitled xe2x80x9cSearch and Retrieval Systemxe2x80x9d; U.S. Pat. No. 5,608,899 entitled xe2x80x9cMethod and Apparatus for Searching a Database by Interactively Modifying a Database Queryxe2x80x9d; U.S. Pat. No. 5,768,578 entitled xe2x80x9cUser Interface for Information Retrieval Systemxe2x80x9d; U.S. Pat. No. 5,841,437 entitled xe2x80x9cMethod and Apparatus for Interactive Database Queries via Movable Viewing Operation Regionsxe2x80x9d; U.S. Pat. No. 5,918,217 entitled xe2x80x9cUser Interface for a Financial Advisory Systemxe2x80x9d; U.S. Pat. No. 5,930,501 entitled xe2x80x9cPictorial User Interface for Establishing Time of Day and Geographical or Environmental Context on a Computer Display or Other Monitorxe2x80x9d.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,303,361 describes a text search and retrieval system which builds an index representing every word in stored files created by a variety of applications, searches for requested words using the index, ranks the files based on the relative strength of match with the search request and displays the ranked filenames for user selection.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,608,899 describes an apparatus for searching a database and modifying database queries including an approach to searching multidimensional data, e.g., by constructing a query from a sequential process of identifying constraints from bar, line, and pie charts.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,768,578 describes an information retrieval system user interface for retrieving information from a plurality of sources and for storing information source descriptions in a knowledge base. The user interface includes a hypertext browser enabling a user to browse an unstructured information space and, a knowledge base browser/editor for displaying a directed graph representing a generalization taxonomy of the knowledge base, with the nodes representing concepts and edges representing relationships between concepts. The system also allows for querying a structured information source and using query results to focus the hypertext browser on the most relevant unstructured data sources.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,841,437 describes an information visualization system that uses dynamic queries in combination with movable viewing operation regions for searching of two dimensional databases.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,918,217 describes a user interface for a financial advisory system in which a user may interactively explore how changes in one or more input decisions such as a risk tolerance, a savings level, and a retirement age affect one or more output values such as a probability of achieving a financial goal or an indication of short-term risk. Although it deals exclusively with financial systems, the concept of enabling interactive exploration of a multidimensional data set is described.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,930,501 describes a system for retrieving and displaying a pictorial user interface on a computer display or other monitor and addresses the issue of a single context variable with a pictorial approach.
It would be highly desirable to provide a graphical user interface for a customer self service resource search and selection system that is capable of addressing multiple context variables abstractly, using an interactive information graphic.
Representative prior art references addressing the issue of providing some element of context to search and retrieval systems includes U.S. Pat. No. 5,794,178 entitled xe2x80x9cVisualization of Information Using Graphical Representations of Context Vector Based Relationships and Attributesxe2x80x9d; U.S. Pat. No. 6,014,661 entitled xe2x80x9cSystem and Method for Automatic Analysis of Data Bases and for User-Controlled Dynamic Queryingxe2x80x9d; U.S. Pat. No. 6,097,386 entitled xe2x80x9cData Processing System Having Context Sensitive Visual Feedback for User Interface Controls and Method Thereforxe2x80x9d.
Particularly, U.S. Pat. No. 5,794,178 describes a system and method for automatically generating context vectors representing conceptual relationships among information items by quantitative means for use in storage and retrieval of documents and other information items and for displaying them visually to a user. A neural network operates on a training corpus of records to develop relationship-based context vectors based on word proximity and co-importance using a technique of xe2x80x9cwindowed co-occurrencexe2x80x9d. Relationships among context vectors are deterministic, so that a context vector set has one logical solution, although it may have a plurality of physical solutions. No human knowledge, knowledge base, or conceptual hierarchy, is required. Summary vectors of records may be clustered to reduce searching time, by forming a tree of clustered nodes. Once the context vectors are determined, records may be retrieved using a query interface that allows a user to specify content terms, Boolean terms, and/or document feedback. Thus, context vectors are translated into visual and graphical representations to thereby provide user visualization of textual information and enable visual representations of meaning so that users may apply human pattern recognition skills to document searches.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,014,661 describes a system that utilizes user-adjusted relevance criteria to generate a query. It is primarily directed to a main processing system that accesses a database, which contains data records, each of which is divided into data fields. The system preferably automatically determines the type of data in each field, as well as its range of values. It then determines one or more relational structures of the field data using a corresponding number of relevance measures. For each field, a preferably user-adjustable, software-generated query device is displayed, preferably in the order of the relevance measures of the respective fields. The plot of one or more fields"" data relative to that of another field is initially generated using the fields in order of relevance. The relevance measure forming the basis of the field ordering, the order of fields, and the ranges of the plotted, displayed fields may be adjusted interactively by the user by moving and adjusting the various query devices.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,097,386 is directed to a data processing system that transforms the limited user interface toolkits currently in use in the software development industry to provide control interfaces which are sensitive to a user""s operational context.
Thus, the prior art has addressed the issues of database searching, dynamic query formulation, and the visual representation of multidimensional data. Newer search engines are just beginning to use some of these ideas to express queries and results. There has heretofore never been an information search and retrieval method providing the means to express the relevance of the results to a particular user in terms beyond that of the results"" content.
It would be highly desirable to provide in a customer self service system, an interface that facilitates the efficient location of relevant resources by the busy user by enabling the expression of a user""s context as part of the query, and the relevance of the results to that context.
More specifically, it would be highly desirable to provide in a customer self service system, an intuitive graphical user interface that provides elements to enter search terms, select and fine tune user context definitions from pull-down menus as part of the query, establish inclusionary and exclusionary resource filters, and specify resource priorities by selecting, sequencing and weighting relevant criteria.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an intuitive graphical user interface for a customer self service system enabling resource search and selection.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an intuitive graphical user interface for a customer self service system, wherein the GUI provides elements to enter search terms, select and fine tune user context definitions.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide an intuitive graphical user interface for a customer self service system, wherein the GUI enables establishment of inclusionary and exclusionary resource filters, and enables the specification of resource priorities by selecting, sequencing and weighting relevant criteria.
The GUI described by this invention facilitates the efficient location of relevant resources by the user because it enables the expression of a user""s context as part of the query.
According to the invention, there is provided a graphical user interface for a customer self service system that performs resource search and selection. The interface comprises a first visual workspace comprising entry field enabling entry of a query for a resource and, one or more selectable user context icons, each representing a context associated with the current user situation, and having context attributes associated therewith; a second visual workspace for visualizing and exploring the set of resources that the customer self service system has determined to match the user""s query, the system indicating a degree of fit of the determined resources with the query, based on the user""s context, associated resource selection parameters and associated relevant resource evaluation criteria utilized by a search mechanism in the system; a third visual workspace including detail specification workspace for enabling user to select and modify user context attribute values, and further relevant resource evaluation criteria; and visual means enabling the user to continuously navigate among the first, second and third visual workspaces to enable increased specificity and accuracy of query""s search parameters and resource evaluation criteria and thereby identify and improve selection logic and response sets fitted to a query.
Advantageously, such a customer self service system is applicable to a variety of customer self service domains including, but not limited to: education, real estate and travel.